Women in Bethlehem, Philly, across globe march for equality and against Trump policies

THE MORNING CALL / RYAN KNELLER

In Bethlehem, about 500 people joined a Women's March that drew thousands to Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and many other cities across the country and world.

In Bethlehem, about 500 people joined a Women's March that drew thousands to Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and many other cities across the country and world. (THE MORNING CALL / RYAN KNELLER)

Vera Haller, Mark Guarino and Brady DennisOf The Washington Post

Before the sun rose on Saturday over a Washington gripped by gridlock, pink hats and poster-board signs already were emerging around world.

The second iteration of the Women’s March began in cities such as Rome, where crowds raucously rallied on a clear, sunny morning. “Came for the carbonara, stayed for the resistance,” read one of the thousands of signs that protesters carried throughout the day.

From Beijing to Buenos Aires, from Denver to Dallas, from California to the Carolinas, hundreds of thousands of activists once again took to the streets to protest the policies and presidency of Donald Trump. The number of participants might not have eclipsed the millions who marched in cities a year ago, but The Resistance still brought out swarms of people from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to Bethlehem.

Saturday’s march made clear how a movement that began as a protest has evolved. A year of the Trump presidency, coupled with the galvanizing experience of the #MeToo moment, has made activists eager to leave a mark on the country’s political system. As a result, a key component of Saturday’s demonstrations was an effort to harness the enthusiasm behind the Women’s March and translate that into political sway at the polls this fall.

“Last year it was about hope. This year it’s about strength,” said Diane Costello, 67, a retired teacher and member of Moms Against Violence, a group that advocates for gun control, said as she marched through Manhattan.

“2018 is going to be a great year to get more progressive people elected,” said Julie Biel-Claussen, 59, executive director of the McHenry Housing Authority in northwest Illinois, as she marched through a chilly Chicago morning.

In Philadelphia, accountant Miriam Fisher dressed as the Statue of Liberty and walked with a crutch to show how “liberty was battered, but not broken.”

And Kim Sorbello, of Wayne, Delaware County, walked with a group of seven women wearing a homemade “RE-SISTERS” sign around her neck.

At Payrow Plaza in Bethlehem, an anticipated crowd of 200 more than doubled by noon. Carrying signs that read “Resist,” “Together we rise,” and “Make America good, green, giving and generous again,” demonstrators cheered a slate of speakers who encouraged women to get involved.

“Our movement has to somehow counter all of the hatred, all of the bigotry and all of the misogyny,” newly minted Northampton County Councilwoman Tara Zrinski, told the crowd. “Women are now rising up to take power and, not surprisingly, we’re succeeding.”

Vanessa Williams, of FIERCE: Lehigh Valley, one of the groups organizing the rally, said it’s important to have more women, regardless of political affiliation, in all levels of government.

“When you look at Pennsylvania as a whole, we have zero representation on the federal level, which is pretty atrocious,” she said.

One of the biggest demonstrations on Saturday unfolded in New York.

Hundreds of protesters streamed out of the subway stop at Broadway and W. 72nd Street, heading toward the march route along Central Park West. The atmosphere was festive, with people chanting, “This is what democracy looks like!” Hawkers sold knitted pink hats, #MeToo buttons and American flags.

Actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg gave a short but fiery speech thanking the thousands of people who came out for the march. “I love the fact that I can’t see the end of this,” she said as she gestured toward the crowd stretching before her. “We started a movement that’s still moving. We are here as women to say we're not going to take it any more.”

Deanna Santana, 60, of Hamden, Connecticut, a veteran and retired professional in children services, said she came to this year’s march to voice her support for immigrants and the right to health care.

“My family is half Mexican and half Puerto Rican, and I recently lost my husband to cancer,” she said. “I’m doing this for him.”

New York Police Department officers huddled just blocks away from Trump Tower, as protesters clogged public transportation on their way to march. Standing on a delayed subway train, Vicky Haken, 57, said she decided to march for a second year after participating in last year’s rally in Washington. “I oppose every policy of this administration”" said Haken, a nutritionist. “It’s turned out way worse than I feared.”

Although many protesters were returning for a second year, many came for the first time — some so young that hadn’t been able to vote in the 2016 election.

Madeleine Greenberg, an 18-year-old from Newport Beach, California, came to the march with her three roommates from New York University. She couldn’t make it last year because she had high school exams. She said that as excited as she was to join the march, she’s just as excited to vote in November.

“It’s really important for people to recognize that every election matters, not just the big presidential election,” Greenberg said. “I wasn’t able to vote in the last election, so this will be the first election I’ll be able to vote.”

Across the river in Morristown, New Jersey, a line of charter tour buses unloaded marchers behind town hall, an overflow crowd that Police Chief Peter Demnitz estimated reached 15,000 by 11:30 a.m., along with some counterprotesters.

Organizers said they chose Morristown because of its Revolutionary War history as the winter encampment site of George Washington’s army. Last year’s event in Trenton drew and estimated 7,500.

“If one man can build a wall, one girl can destroy it ALL!” read a large handmade sign being carried by a young girl making her way down South Street.

Megan Hertlein, a 13-year-old middle school student from Vernon, New Jersey, took an hour-long train ride with her mother, Patti Hertlein, 44, a paralegal. Megan stayed up late making a poster with a line borrowed from the musical “Hamilton”: “Tell your [sister] that she's gotta rise up!”

Nearby, Michael Shapiro, a 55-year-old resident of Belleville, New Jersey, was waving a “Make America Great Again” sign as several marchers tried to hold their signs in front of his. “I’m here to support President Trump,” Shapiro said.

As the marches were underway, the president tweeted, “Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!”

In Palm Beach, Fla., home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, several hundred people gathered with anti-Trump signs as they prepared to march in the protests. A group of women wearing red cloaks and white hats like the characters in the book and TV show “The Handmaid’s Tale” marched in formation, their heads bowed.

In Las Vegas, a concerted effort was made to push for voter registration. Linda Sarsour, one of the four organizers of last year’s Washington march, said Las Vegas was slotted for a major rally because it’s a strategic swing state that gave Democrat Hillary Clinton a narrow win in the presidential election and will have one of the most competitive Senate races in 2018. Republican incumbent Dean Heller is considered vulnerable and first-term Rep. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, is a leading challenger. The Las Vegas rally also focused on gun violence and sexual assault.

In Chicago, organizers claimed to have eclipsed the 250,000 marchers from last year, despite only 40,000 signing up online.

For some young people there, the march was less about politics and more about the normalization of sexual harassment and the mistreatment of women during the Trump presidency.

Jane Bailey, a 15-year-old from the suburb of Indian Head Park, was marching because she said her rights have been threatened. She and her friends said that since Trump was elected, boys at their high school have become more emboldened to bully girls online. “It really made me angry and want to fight,” she said.